REPORT OF THE CENTENARY CONFERENCE ON THE PROTESTANT MISSIONS OF THE WORLD, HELD IN EXETER HALL (JUNE 9TH-19TH), LONDON, 1888. EDITED BY THE REV. JAMES JOHNSTON, F.S.S., Secretary of the Conference; AUTHOR OF 19 " "A CENTURY OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS; OUR EDUCATIONAL POLICY IN INDIA;" ETC., ETC., ETO. VOL. I. LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21, BERNERS STREET, W. 1889. (1) THE INCREASE AND INFLUENCE OF ISLAM (2) BUDDHISM AND OTHER HEATHEN SYSTEMS; THEIR CHARACTER 12 33 (3) THE MISSIONS OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH TO HEATHEN LANDS; THEIR CHARACTER, EXTENT, INFLUENCE, AND LESSONS (4) THE RELATIONS BETWEEN HOME AND FOREIGN MISSIONS; OR, THE 111 139 (6) AFRICA: NORTH AND WEST, THE NILE, THE NIGER . 234 467 489 539 INTRODUCTION. THE OBJECTS OF THE CONFERENCE. * THE report of the Centenary Conference on Foreign Missions, which met in Exeter Hall in the month of June last, we now submit to the public. The main objects of the Conference we can best describe in the language of Sir William Hunter in his article in the Nineteenth Century of July, in these words: "St. Paul, when he made answer before princes and governors, was wont to divide his defence between eloquent vindication and well-weighed argument. The great Missionary Apologia of last month Put by wisely followed the same lines. A series of crowded public Sir William W. Hunter. meetings awakened enthusiasm, and powerfully urged the religious claims of Missionary enterprise. A separate series of open conferences quietly and accurately examined into the important problems of Missionary work. It is full time that to some of the questions thus raised an honest answer should be given. During a century Protestant Missionaries have been continuously at labour, and year by year they make an ever-increasing demand upon the zeal and resources of Christendom. Thoughtful men in England and America ask, in all seriousness, What is the practical result of so vast an expenditure of effort? And, while the world thus seeks for a sign, the Churches also desire light. What lesson does the hard-won experience of the century teach ?-the experience bought by the lives and labours of thousands of devoted men and women every quarter of the globe. What conquests has that great Missionary in * The term "centenary" is employed with sufficient accuracy in reference to a Conference on work carried on over a lengthened period, nearly reached by many Societies and preceded by a few. It would have been wrong if used in regard to the celebration of an event. Each Society may have its own centenary celebration with which our Conference in no way interferes. |